Horton to lead Cape Clear Bird Observatory
BirdWatch Ireland has announced the appointment of a new warden for the country’s only accredited bird observatory.
John Horton, who is the new Cape Clear Bird Observatory Warden, has spent the past nine years establishing and developing the first new bird observatory in Britain and Ireland for decades on Alderney in the Channel Islands.
“Since the 1950’s bird observatories have been synonymous with excellence in ornithological research,” noted John.
He continued, “Some of these twenty-one key sites situated around the coast of Britain and Ireland monitoring bird migration have near mythical status for birders, and for me Cape Clear falls firmly within this bracket, delivering standardised species recording and wowing the birdwatching world with sightings of exceptionally rare birds since 1959.”
A former Wildlife Crime Investigations Officer with the Metropolitan Police in London, John also is a highly experienced bird ringer.
He has taken part in ringing projects on five continents and cites the catching of a Spoon-billed Sandpiper in 1989 in south-west India as a memorable highlight.
“I am delighted to join the BirdWatch Ireland team and extremely proud to be the warden of Ireland’s only accredited bird observatory, and to have the opportunity to build on the established foundations and progress the science and data gathered here on Cape, an important contributor to our international understanding of the human and environmental impacts on our birdlife.”
Follow John’s journey in his new role on BlueSky.
